Man who ran over woman pleads guilty

A man pleaded guilty Friday to charges that he ran over and killed a Rock Island woman in September.

Jeremy C. Graves, 25, of Davenport appeared Friday in Rock Island County Circuit Court to plead guilty to one count of second-degree murder, according to online court records.

Other charges he faced in the Sept. 20 death of 43-year-old Sandra Tate, including first-degree murder, were dismissed.

After pleading guilty, Graves was sentenced to 15 years in prison, records state.

Police reported that Graves went to 921 15th St. the evening of Sept. 19 to pick up his child, and a fight ensued inside the home. After he went back outside, Graves got into someone’s car and began driving recklessly in the block, police said.

Witnesses said Graves was jumping the curbs, driving over lawns and trying to run over people with the car, police said.

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Police arrived at 11:09 p.m. and saw Graves driving recklessly. Police then witnessed Graves hit Tate and run her over.

Tate, the mother of seven children, had pushed several children out of Graves’ path moments before she was run over, according to witnesses interviewed by the Quad-City Times the next day.

She was taken by ambulance to Trinity Rock Island, then airlifted to University Hospitals, Iowa City, where she died at 2:31 a.m. Sept. 20.